dinner ideas
Easter Dinners and Leftover Holiday Meal Ideas
April 23, 2011 | 
Author Early Sunday Dinners with a Twist – Weekly Sunday Potlucks with Friends
Try having a weekly get together with friends for home cooked meals
Here’s an idea for some of you to try -
Early Sunday Potluck Dinner with Friends
Some of us may not be so rich to be able to afford going out to dinner so frequently – and also some of us adore home cooked meals – I started a trend in my neighborhood which is catching on like a good football game. And so many of us grew up with the traditional Sunday Family Dinner.
Now some of us have grown up and away even from family – but that doesn’t mean you have to stop having this traditional and lovely meal without the help of friends!
How this trend started:
Several of us single people who adore cooking, but dislike having too many leftovers especially when cooking for one, have created a Early Sunday Dinner Ritual whereby we each take turns coming over to the other’s home to share a meal cooked by that week’s host.
The benefits are obvious – you get to have a get together with your friends, you get to share a meal – try something new even such as a new recipe, people can bring something to add to the dinner such as dessert, you can even get help with them cleaning up and washing the dishes. You as that week’s host get to cook, which you already love to do, have your food eaten up, and have less leftovers for any possible waste.
I have been known to roast a small chicken, but that meal turns into 6 dishes – and I will freeze the left over chicken (which is good for up to a month) since I rather not eat chicken every day for one week. This early sunday weekly dinner with your friends can happen as often as once a week or even every two weeks depending upon’s everyone’s schedule.
But if you are smart, which I know you are, you can start with at least 4 or 5 people, this way if one is not able to attend, you still have enough people.
Recently, we have had the pleasure of enjoying the following homemade meals: bodacious baked ham, pineapple chicken (recipe to come), Beef Bourguignon, fennel and sausage homemade pizza with goat cheese, Linguine with meat sauce, amazing tarragon salad dressing, homemade croutons from homemade breads, rosemary and garlic artisan bread and even a tasty Danish dessert.
So save some money, see your friends – and since they are friends, they are there to eat, not to complain about how your apartment looks – just scurry them into your dining room or kitchen area. It will feel like you are going out to eat but without the expense of the bill.
Would love to hear if any of you pick this trend up – it is certainly fun – and share which recipes you have tried and shared with your friends on your Early Sunday Potluck Dinners!
~Chef Maven – Chow Ciao for Now…
Rosh Hashanah Dinner Menu – Happy New Year
This past Monday I made (with some help) a large and super tasty meal for my very first Rosh Hashanah Dinner. I may not be Jewish, but my guy is and we thought to make a nice meal for several of our friends, one couple whose wedding we had just gone to days before. So to keep the festivities going from their new wedding bliss, my guy and I sought out to create one heck of a meal.
I learned a lot including adding a few new dishes and appetizers to my arsenal of recipes, all of which came out wonderfully. I share them with you here. One thing that I found most interesting what that you eat certain foods to help start the new year sweetly – so that it is sweeter than the previous year. I am all for that. And certain foods are quite traditional as well such as pumpkin, pomegranates, honey, whole fish, just to name a few. Let me share with you some of the reasons as to why you eat these foods and the thoughts behind them.
By eating a head of a fish…yes, you make a large whole fish is “to help represent being ahead for the new year, and not ‘be’ the tail for the new year”…thankfully my guy’s brother is making this one..2) eating a new fruit or apple with honey, so help bring in sweetness to the new year and that your new year will be sweeter than the last year…3) also foods such as beets, pumpkins, spinach, dates, pomegranates.
One particular cool thing about the pomegranates is that they supposedly contain 613 seeds. Thus, Jews display their desire to fulfill God’s 613 mitzvoth (commandments from the Torah) by eating the pomegranate. ok I did not know that…
I will provide all the recipes in a separate post.
So our party menu is the following:
- Sliced apples dipped in honey (the honey was from a local farm and was incredible!) to start (tradition I’m told) all said with a beginning prayer for the meal/feast.
- Clear chicken soupwith special spices
- Spinach patties and leak with ground beef patties (new to me, my guy and I made these – and they were fantastic! You make them the night before and serve them up cold.
- Whole fish served in a creamy super light sauce with chopped tomatoes (will have to ask my guy’s brother for the recipe – it was amazing and looked incredibly pretty)
- Super Salad which resembles a Greek salad with fresh feta cheese, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, red onions, parsley, tomatoes with only fresh lemon juice and olive oil. This was mostly all vegetables and very little lettuce at all.
- homemade hummus – (already posted)
- homemade tortilla chips and toasted pita bread
- cilantro pesto (posted)
- zahatar and olive oil for bread dipping (posted)
- cilantro bean salad (my dish – posted)
- honey glazed carrots
- steamed green beans with then toasted almonds, garlic and drizzled olive oil (posted)
- Cilantro Basmati Rice (posted)
- A huge Roasted rib eye roast (posted)
- Yorkshire pudding and homemade horseradish sauce (ok this is totally me, but heck, give this wasp girl a break – lol)
- pumpkin pie and pecan pie from scratch
- Honey Cake (very traditional and kosher as well)
- then the usual wine, coffee lattes, turkish coffee, etc.
This was followed by followed by two days of cleaning…was it worth it all?… You betcha! You could tell everyone was so impressed (always love that factor, I admit!) – the food was super tasty, beautiful looking and was enjoyed by all…as it turns out, I did have left overs and have been making some interesting new dishes which I will share in another post….Chef Maven
Happy New Year!
Posted in appetizers, authentic, dinner ideas, Dinners, Eating Healthy, food, from scratch, Party Ideas, Party Recipes, Slow Food, slow food recipes | 
Tags: authentic, easy and best yorkshire pudding recipe, food, from scratch, holiday menues, how to cook bottom round roast of beef, jewish new year dinner menu, restaurant-styled, roasting times, rosh hashanah dinner menus, slow cooking, Slow Food, slow food recipe, slow food recipes, zahatar spice blend mix recipe | 
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Our Daily Dinner – What Are You Having For Dinner Tonight?
Hi everyone, I belong to a recipe site, like so many of us these days. At this site, we can share recipes and chat – great place to share one’s cooking stories and tips – and many times a good laugh is had by all…
So, since this is a very active post, I thought and decided to start a daily dinner post here at my blog, feel free to share what you are having for dinner tonight…
For tonight’s dinner, I am making penne pasta with garden peas, homemade basil pesto, fresh sliced plum tomatoes with just a few sauteed garlic shrimp on top. For Salad I am having my usual fresh tarragon salad dressing over mixed greens and purple cabbage and carrots with a few rosemary bread croutons I made just the other day from a loaf of bread I made. And lastly for starters I am serving up some fresh guacamole with extra cilantro and lime juice with homemade tortilla chips.
So what’s on your plate for tonight? Let us know… add your comments…Chef Maven and others would love to hear…
Posted in dinner ideas, Dinners, Party Ideas, pasta, pasta dinners, vegetable dishes | Tags: dinner ideas, food, leftover dinner ideas, our daily dinner, peas, shrimp, what is for dinner tonight | No Comments »
Oh Sherri – Your Chickens Great Recipe
I was so tired of leftovers, so off I made this for dinner last night, super easy yet creates a nice complex taste thanks to the reduced red wine sauce with mushrooms and a sprinkling of fresh lavender in the herbs de province. Served with steamed broccoli with toasted spiced walnuts and almonds, garlic and olive oil and oven roasted fennel with parmesan cheese.
Ingredients:
- Sliced thin chicken breasts (I sliced mine when they were semi-frozen to make it super easy and its far cheaper to do it yourself then to buy them pre-sliced thin)
- 1 box 8 oz. brown/baby bella mushrooms
- 1 medium onion or 3-4 shallots – diced/chopped
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup raisins (golden raisins or dried currents perfect too)
- 3/4 cup or less of red wine (I used an Australian Cabernet)
- 1 cup water
- 1-1/2 tablespoon “better than bullion paste – chicken flavor”
- (or substitute water and bullion paste with one cup of low-sodium chicken broth)
- 1 good teaspoon herbs de province
- 1 good teaspoon of lavender (crushed in hands prior to putting in skillet)
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- Olive oil & butter
- **Chicken coating
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/3 cup corn starch
- salt & pepper
- **Marinade for chicken
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup worcestershire sauce
- 1 deep skillet
Directions:
- In bowl for marinade, take egg and beat well, then add soy sauce and worcestershire sauce and mix till well blended.
- Add sliced thin chicken breasts to marinade, let sit for at least 10 minutes and up to 30 minutes and set aside while setting up everything else.
- In second bowl, mix corn starch and flour with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Slice up mushrooms into good sized pieces – since they ‘shrink’ when cooking. I cut mine into four pieces each. Set aside.
- In skillet, Add a drizzle of olive oil and butter. Take ONE clove of garlic and smash it with edge of knife, and put into skillet with olive oil and butter.
- With remaining garlic cloves, mince and set aside.
- Take out chicken slices, allowing liquid to drip off and dredge in flour mixture and shake off any excess – you want a light coating, not heavy.
- Remove garlic from skillet once it starts to brown.
- Place chicken in and allow to cook for only 1-2 minutes on each side.
- You may have to do the chicken in batches as I did.
- As each chicken gets light brown on each side, remove chicken and set aside on a plate, continue till all chicken is slightly browned. It will finish cooking in sauce. You may have to add a little olive oil.
- Next, add chopped onions/shallots to hot skillet. Do not worry about browning on bottom of skillet. Allow onions to cook for 5 minutes, then add mushrooms. Add to cooking onions and mushrooms, pepper, lavender, herbs de province, garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Add red wine carefully to hot skillet, scraping up all the bottom bits of ‘flavor enhancers’ and add raisins.
- After four minutes of cooking, add water and bullion paste. Stir to incorporate.
- Keep skillet on medium and allow sauce to cook for at least 15 -25 minutes to reduce liquid somewhat.
- Add chicken breasts back into skillet, scooping up mushrooms and sauce and pour over chicken breasts and allow chicken to heat through (say five minutes).
- Once liquid had reduced and chicken has heated through, then taste sauce for any needs for salt. Since the sauce reduces, you might be surprised there may be no need for salt as the reduced sauce really enhances the flavors and seasonings.
- Serve with your favorite side dishes.
- Sprinkle some chopped fresh parsley over chicken (or chopped scallions like I did and as photo shows)
- Enjoys the oohs and ahhs of delectable chicken!